1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input device in which an input is performed based on a trajectory of an operation of an operator, and an operation device for a vehicle including this input device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An operation device for a vehicle has been proposed in which a capacitive touch pad is provided in a steering wheel of a vehicle, and an input unit is included that detects an operation which is performed on this touch pad by a vehicle driver. When an input operation is performed on the touch pad of this operation device for a vehicle during driving of the vehicle, this input operation is an operation that occurs in a state in which the steering wheel is gripped, and thus for example, even when a linear gesture is performed, this gesture follows an arc-shaped trajectory with a root part of the thumb being a fulcrum. Therefore, false gesture detection, or a case in which the gesture cannot be detected occurs.
In contrast, in an operation device for a vehicle described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-112207, an arc-shaped gesture is judged to be a linear gesture as long as the trajectory of an operation of a vehicle driver does not exceed a predetermined width.
However, a fulcrum position of the trajectory of a touch pad operation or a shape of drawing the trajectory is different from vehicle driver to vehicle driver due to the physical features of the respective vehicle drivers such as finger length or arm length, a habit of the vehicle driver, or a gripping position of the steering wheel. Further, drawing a different trajectory in each driving opportunity of the same vehicle driver is considered. This is similar to a case in which the touch pad is arranged in a position (for example, a console) other than the steering wheel.
Therefore, in some vehicle drivers or some driving opportunities, the trajectory of an operation may exceed a predetermined width and it may be difficult for a gesture to be recognized as a linear gesture. In this case, because a desired instruction cannot be sent to the vehicle, an operation of the vehicle may interfere and this is not preferable. Further, in the operation device for a vehicle described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-112207, since it is necessary to determine whether the width of an arc of the trajectory is out of a threshold range for all operations, the load on a processing system increases.